Captive in their country: Azerbaijani journalists and activists barred from travelling abroad

Azerbaijan’s ongoing crackdown against jour­nal­ists and activists critical of the gov­ern­ment has seen scores of critics impris­oned. Less well known are the stories of those who escape jail, but are still subjected to tremen­dous pressure — including restric­tion of their ability to travel abroad.

‘I have been banned from leaving the country for two years. I have been repeat­ed­ly invited to trainings for jour­nal­ists in other countries. I was selected to par­tic­i­pate in pro­grammes to improve jour­nal­ists’ capacity. But I cannot take advantage of these oppor­tu­ni­ties.’

These are the words of freelance jour­nal­ist Aytan Farhadova. She told OC Media that since 2015, she has been banned from leaving Azer­bai­jan by the Prosecutor’s Office. Aytan claims that this ban is unjus­ti­fied and that it is a man­i­fes­ta­tion of the author­i­ties’ pressure on freedom of speech.

‘A financial inves­ti­ga­tion was carried out regarding the activ­i­ties of [Germany-based Azer­bai­jani news platform] Meydan TV. A criminal case was launched against me and a few other jour­nal­ists whose articles were published on Meydan TV. We were banned from leaving the country in order to be summoned for ques­tion­ing as witnesses. The inter­ro­ga­tion happened more than a year ago. According to the law, the ban should have been removed. In reality, the purpose is to pressure people who use their right to free speech’, Aytan says.

The ban doesn’t affect only jour­nal­ists. At different times, many political and civic activists have been banned from the leaving the country. Some of them found out only when they tried to cross the border. This was the case for political activist Natig Adilov.

Freelance jour­nal­ist Ayten Farhadova.

Psychological pressure

Adilov is a member of the oppo­si­tion Popular Front Party. He told OC Media that two years ago he was removed from a train by Azer­bai­jani border police on his way to neigh­bour­ing Georgia.

‘I was going to Georgia by train. At the border, I was removed from the train. They didn’t give me any expla­na­tion. I asked them to give me a written notice stating the reason, they just pulled my arm. Finally, they wrote that my passport had been suspended, but they did not explain why. All of this is asso­ci­at­ed with my political activ­i­ties’, Natig said.

The Azer­bai­jani author­i­ties employ many methods of exer­cis­ing pressure on activists. For example, a member of the Youth Movement NIDA Turgut Gambar told OC Media that each time he’s crossing the border, the author­i­ties make him wait and fill in redundant paperwork.

‘They look at my passport and imme­di­ate­ly start a search. They take my passport, make me wait without any expla­na­tion, perform a pro­tract­ed control. Every time they make me fill in a dec­la­ra­tion on how much money I have on me. They don’t do it to other citizens. They try to create psy­cho­log­i­cal tension and to pressure me because of my political activity’, Turgut said.

Courts serve the government

Inde­pen­dent lawyer Fariz Namazli told OC Media that this practice shows that the Azer­bai­jani gov­ern­ment wants to keep the activists under control by not letting them leave the country and exer­cis­ing psy­cho­log­i­cal pressure to them. He is currently involved in the case of jour­nal­ist Aytan Farhadova’s ban on leaving the country.

‘The ban was imposed by the Nasimi District Court of Baku and was then upheld by Baku Court of Appeal. Local courts are partial, because the ban is polit­i­cal­ly motivated. If the witness was ques­tioned, according to the law, they cannot be banned from leaving the country. However, the courts carry out the government’s orders, they don’t do what’s pre­scribed by the law. For this reason, we have applied to the European Court of Human Rights’, Namazli said.

Baku Court of Appeal didn’t respond to OC Media’s request for a comment. The court’s employee who asked for anonymity said that this court case was already closed and the court can’t give any statement to the media.

The secretary of the press service of the Pros­e­cu­tor General’s Office, Eldar Sultanov gave us a short comment in which he said that if jour­nal­ists and activists have a complaint, they should approach the pros­e­cu­tor and let the issue be inves­ti­gat­ed.

When is a ban legal?

Alasgar Mammadli.

Lawyer Alasgar Mammadli told OC Media that according to the law, a ban can be only imposed by a court order as a result of a criminal case or tax debt, yet in practice, bans are often imposed without court orders.

‘In European countries, the decision to impose restric­tions on crossing the border is made by courts. This is also the rule in Azer­bai­jan, but in the practice, the opposite happens. At present, if we look at what’s happening in the country, these cases are not legally sound cases, such as the banning activists from leaving the country, because there are no criminal pro­ceed­ings against them. Even in case of an inter­ro­ga­tion of a witness, the ban cannot continue for an indef­i­nite period. There is no legal legit­i­ma­cy’, Mammadli said.

The lawyer said that in case of ban, one has to imme­di­ate­ly apply to the court and demand the law­less­ness to stop and to bring the abusers to justice.

Aytan Farhadova hopes the European Court of Human Rights will revoke the ban, so she can travel abroad again.